Certain gas turbine machines run on crude liquid fuel and in order to maintain the desired viscosity, the liquid fuel must be heated to the appropriate temperature, e.g., about 180°-210° F. Current systems utilize electric heaters that may consume about 250-600 kW of auxiliary power, and, as a practical matter, to provide the required redundancy, such electric heaters are typically required to have a capability of twice their anticipated output.
Gas turbines that operate on crude liquid fuel (e.g., crude oil) also typically supply atomized compressor discharge air to the individual combustors. To effectively use the compressor discharge air, the air must first be cooled to a temperature of about 220° F. Currently, a separate atomizing air cooler using water as the heat exchange medium is used to cool the compressor discharge air.
It would be desirable to develop a liquid fuel system and an atomizing air system that eliminates at least the liquid fuel electric heater if not both the electric heater and the atomizing air cooler so as to reduce auxiliary load consumption and thus reduce costs and improve overall efficiency.